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WILL THE CHURCH 
MEET THE TEST? 


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F the church ever intends to vindi- 

cate its name among men as the 
champion of a pure and peaceable 
religion of heavenly power, now is the 
time when it must move forward with 
consecration surpassing all it has 
shown before. Now is the hour for 
sacrifice, for devotion that costs, for 
fidelities unflinching and unlimited. 
The reason why the knowledge of the 
Lord must cover the earth as the 
waters cover the sea is now evident 
as never before; nothing less than 
literal saturation with religion will 
save the world from such foul out- 
breaks of wicked ambition as now 
bathe it in blood. Thin-spread, nom- 
inal Christianity is a demonstrated 
failure. Nothing, therefore, but the 
uttermost insistency and persistenc 
of Christians for the rights and will 
of their Master can be worthy of their 
calling and allegiance in this critical 
juncture of human fate. 


Aa 0 Sf 


Will the church meet the test? Its 
greatest immediate peril is that it will 
give way and lose ground before it 
fairly realizes that the test has come. 
In whatever new crusade the church 
is called to by this unequalled demand, 
the first were of its commander will 
not be a blood-stirring “ Move on!” 
but a sobering “ Hold fast!” If the 
earth is to be covered deep with the 
knowledge of the Lord, the matter to 
care for first is that the tide shall not 
be allowed to ebb away from the fields 
where it now prevails. The gospel 
flood to be hoped for must not ft 
before it rises. Recession anywhere 
now in any religious work would verge 
on treason. 

Let us put the danger in the plainest 
of warning. War conditions have dis- 
turbed business all over the world. 
Hard times, of nobody knows what 
severity, are imminent in the United 
States. Many, possibly most families 
will likely have less to live on. The 
habit of Christian givers under the 
same conditions in other times has 
been to reduce their giving to the mis- 
sion enterprises of the church. It has 
been assumed that a Christian may 
lawfully abridge his benevolence in 
the proportion that his income de- 


creases. Perhaps that is a fair abstract 
principle. But let the church take 
notice that it does not apply now. A 
new measure is installed. A stress of 
burden must be shouldered by the 
church which it has never borne be- 
fore. The stress begins with this: The 
church must this time keep up its 
mission giving unfalteringly, no mat- 
ter how its temporal prosperity fails. 
If incomes go down, the utmost cut 
of economy must be applied to what 
Christians spend on themselves before 
they think of abating what they give 
to the cause of making this world what 
Christ wants. } 

How can there be hope of the 
church’s marching forward, if straight- 
way, when the teeth of hardship champ 
in its flesh, it slinks back? ‘There is 
no going forward without hardship. 
There can be no going forward except 
there first be a great standing fast. 

Don’t cut down your missionary 
contribution. Don’t risk it. Be on 
the safe side of your immortal duty; 
sacrifice and give a little Rs Ms 
Continent. 


x © A WORD TO THE W 
CONGREGATIONAL PEOPLE 
FROM THE AMERICAN BOARD 


<0 


The Officers and Prudential Com- 
mittee of the American Board have 
faith that the Congregational people 
will meet the test. As a proof of that 
confidence, it has been decided to 
make no cut in the annual appropri- 
ations, but to sustain the ek of our 
missionaries on the same basis as last 
year. To do otherwise would be 
to confess the unwillingness of the 
churches to rise to the great emer- 
gency which is upon us because of 
the European War. This is no time 
for American societies to fall away— 
certainly not for the parent society of 
them all. No, we must sustain the 
work and if possible go forward. Each 
one must do his part and give to the 
point of real sacrifice. We must see 
to it that our churches meet the test 
when the time comes for gifts to be 
made to the American Board; that 
we ourselves meet the test. 


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